Google now has so many AI tools that it’s easy to get lost: Gemini, NotebookLM, Nano Banana, Veo, Gemma, Firebase AI, Vertex AI… the list goes on.
This guide puts everything in one place — in simple language — so you know what each tool does, who it’s for, and where to find it.
1. Gemini – Google’s main AI assistant & “brain”
If you remember only one name, make it Gemini.
- 👉 Try it: Gemini web app
- 👉 Android app: Gemini app on Google Play
What it does
Gemini is Google’s all-purpose AI assistant. You can:
- Chat, ask questions, brainstorm ideas
- Write emails, blogs, lesson plans, code, summaries
- Generate images and short videos (through Veo & Imagen inside Gemini)
It’s also replacing Google Assistant on many Android phones, smartwatches, and other devices.
2. Gemini in Google Workspace & Gemini Enterprise – AI at work
If you use Gmail, Docs, Sheets or Slides, Gemini is also built right into Google Workspace:
- 👉 Overview: AI tools for business – Gemini in Workspace
Examples
- In Gmail – draft or reply to emails
- In Docs – rewrite, summarize, or expand text
- In Sheets – analyze data, generate formulas
- In Slides / Vids – generate slides or video drafts from text
For large organisations, there’s Gemini Enterprise – an AI + agent platform for employees:
- 👉 Product page: Gemini Enterprise
It helps companies:
- Create & manage AI agents for different workflows
- Search across internal documents, tools and apps
- Control access, security and compliance
3. NotebookLM – your AI research & study notebook
If you’re a student, teacher, researcher, or writer, NotebookLM is one of Google’s best AI tools.
- 👉 Official site: NotebookLM
What it does
You upload your own:
- PDFs
- Google Docs / Sheets
- Websites, YouTube videos, notes
Then NotebookLM can:
- Summarise everything into clear notes
- Answer questions only from your sources
- Create FAQs, study guides, and even podcast-style audio overviews
It’s like having a private AI tutor trained just on your material.
4. Everyday AI features: Lens, Search, Chrome, Photos & Android
These tools are “everywhere” rather than separate apps.
4.1 Google Lens – search what you see
- 👉 Try it: Google Lens
Use your camera to:
- Translate text
- Identify plants, products, landmarks
- Solve math, copy text from paper, etc.
4.2 AI Overviews & Search Live
- 👉 AI Overviews: AI Overviews in Search
- 👉 Search Live: Search Live help page
AI Overviews show a quick AI summary at the top of search results for complex questions.
Search Live lets you talk to Search in real time using voice + camera — show it what you see, ask follow-up questions, and get AI answers with helpful links.
4.3 Gemini in Chrome & on Android
- 👉 Gemini in Chrome: Gemini in Chrome overview
In Chrome, Gemini can:
- Summarise long pages
- Explain concepts
- Help draft emails or replies in text fields
On Android, if you opt in, the Gemini app becomes your main assistant, replacing Google Assistant on many devices.
4.4 AI in Google Photos
- 👉 Editing features: Google Photos AI editing (
Use tools like Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur, and other AI features to clean, sharpen and reimagine your photos.
5. Creative AI tools: images, video, music & mood boards
5.1 Nano Banana Pro – Gemini’s image generator
- 👉 Overview: Nano Banana Pro – Gemini Image
Nano Banana (and Nano Banana Pro) is Google’s AI image generator inside Gemini. You can:
- Create posters, infographics, and concept art
- Add accurate text inside images (great for flyers & thumbnails)
- Fine-tune lighting, camera angles, aspect ratio and more
5.2 Imagen – advanced text-to-image
- 👉 Model page: Imagen model
Imagen is a high-fidelity text-to-image model with strong typography (it can actually “spell” properly in images). It’s available:
- Inside Gemini, Google AI Studio, and Vertex AI Studio
5.3 Veo – video generation
- 👉 Veo model page: Veo
- 👉 In Gemini: Video generation with Veo
Veo lets you generate short, high-quality videos from text and images, with support for audio and social-media-friendly formats like vertical 9:16.
5.4 Lyria – AI for music
- 👉 Model page: Lyria
Lyria powers Google’s AI music experiments. Through tools built on Lyria and Lyria RealTime, you can generate and even perform music live using AI.
5.5 Mixboard – AI moodboard / idea board
- 👉 App: Mixboard (Google Labs)
Mixboard is an AI-powered concept board for designers and creators. You can visually explore and refine ideas, themes and styles using images and layouts.
6. Developer AI tools: coding, agents & apps
If you’re a developer or startup founder, this is your playground.
6.1 Google AI Studio & Gemini API
- 👉 Main page: Google AI Studio
You can:
- Test different Gemini, Imagen, Veo and Lyria models
- Design prompts and safety settings
- Generate ready-to-use code (Node, Python, etc.)
- Get an API key and call models from your own app
6.2 Vertex AI & Agent Builder (Conversational Agents)
- 👉 Platform: Vertex AI
- 👉 Conversational Agents: Conversational Agents (Dialogflow CX)
- 👉 Vision: Vertex AI Vision
Vertex AI is Google Cloud’s enterprise AI platform. You can:
- Use Gemini and many other foundation models
- Build search, chat, and agent applications
- Integrate with Vision, Speech, Translation, and Document AI
Agent / bot building happens via:
- Dialogflow CX / Conversational Agents – for advanced chatbots & voice bots
- Agent Builder & Customer Engagement Suite with Google AI – full solutions for customer support and sales
Customer-service tools:
- 👉 Contact center: Contact Center AI Platform (CCaaS)
- 👉 Customer Engagement Suite: Customer Engagement Suite with Google AI
6.3 Gemini Code Assist, Antigravity, Gemini CLI & Jules
Gemini Code Assist – AI coding assistant
- 👉 Product: Gemini Code Assist
Helps you and your team:
- Generate, refactor and explain code
- Work across IDEs and repositories
- Get AI support for full software lifecycles
Antigravity – agent-first AI IDE
- 👉 Download & info: Google Antigravity
An AI-powered coding environment where multiple agents can:
- Edit code, use terminals, open browsers
- Generate “artifacts” like plans, logs and screenshots
- Run complex, multi-step dev tasks almost like a team of junior developers
Gemini CLI – AI in your terminal
- 👉 Overview: (news) – Gemini CLI intro
Open-source command-line agent powered by Gemini that:
- Writes and explains code
- Automates tasks
- Works with GitHub and other tools directly from the terminal
Jules – autonomous coding agent
- 👉 Website: Jules
Jules connects to your repos and can:
- Fix bugs
- Write tests
- Build new features
- Prepare pull requests
It’s designed to do the boring coding tasks in the background while you focus on the interesting parts.
6.4 Firebase AI & Genkit / Firebase Studio
- 👉 Firebase AI Logic & Genkit: Generative AI with Firebase
- 👉 Firebase Studio: Firebase Studio with Gemini
Firebase now includes:
- AI Logic – call Gemini directly from your app using client SDKs
- Genkit – open-source framework for more advanced server-side AI workflows
- Firebase Studio – a cloud-based environment powered by Gemini to build full-stack AI apps quickly
6.5 Core ML stack: TensorFlow, Gemma, AI Edge, MediaPipe
TensorFlow – core ML framework
- 👉 Site: TensorFlow
Open-source library for training and deploying machine-learning models.
Gemma – lightweight open models
- 👉 Models: Gemma
Open-weight models built from the same tech as Gemini, ideal when you want more control and local deployment.
AI Edge & LiteRT – on-device AI
- 👉 AI Edge: Google AI Edge
- 👉 LiteRT: LiteRT overview
Use these to run ML and generative models efficiently on mobile, web, or embedded devices.
MediaPipe Solutions – ready-made vision & audio pipelines
- 👉 MediaPipe Solutions guide](https://ai.google.dev/edge/mediapipe/solutions/guide)
Provides pre-built modules for:
- Face, hand, pose tracking
- Object detection
- Gestures and other visual tasks
6.6 Classic cloud AI services: Vision, Speech, Translation, Document AI
All part of Google Cloud, often used behind the scenes in apps:
- 👉 Vision: Vertex AI Vision
- 👉 Text-to-Speech: Cloud Text-to-Speech
- 👉 Speech-to-Text: Cloud Speech-to-Text
- 👉 Translation: Cloud Translation & Translation Hub
- 👉 Document AI: Document AI
Use them to:
- Recognise text, objects and scenes
- Convert speech ↔ text
- Translate documents at scale
- Extract structured data from invoices, forms, contracts, etc.
6.7 Colab & Kaggle – for learning, experiments & competitions
Google Colab
Run Python and ML notebooks in your browser with free GPU/TPU access. Great for learning and prototyping.
Kaggle
- 👉 Kaggle
A huge community for:
- Datasets
- ML competitions
- Shared notebooks and models
7. Safety & watermarking: SynthID
To make AI content more transparent, Google built SynthID, a family of watermarking tools.
- 👉 Model page: SynthID
- 👉 Detector: SynthID Detector
SynthID can:
- Embed invisible watermarks into AI-generated images, video, audio and text
- Detect whether content from Google models (like Gemini, Imagen, Veo, Lyria) has these watermarks
In the Gemini app, you can also check if an image was created or edited with Google AI.
8. DeepMind research tools: AlphaFold, AlphaCode & SIMA
These tools are more research-focused but hugely important.
AlphaFold 3
Predicts 3D structures and interactions of proteins and other molecules, accelerating biology and drug discovery.
AlphaCode
AI that tackles competitive programming problems at a level similar to human contestants.
SIMA (and SIMA 2)
- 👉 SIMA overview: SIMA generalist agent
An AI agent that operates in 3D virtual worlds (games etc.), following natural-language instructions and learning across environments.
9. Which Google AI tools should you start with?
Here’s a quick cheat sheet:
If you’re a student or teacher
- Gemini (web / app) – for explanations, writing and Q&A
- NotebookLM – for notes, research and exam prep
- Google Lens + AI Overviews + Search Live – to explore the world around you and understand concepts faster
If you’re a solo developer or hobbyist
- Google AI Studio + Gemini API – to experiment
- Gemini Code Assist, Gemini CLI, Antigravity, Jules – for coding help
- Colab, Kaggle – for ML learning and experiments
If you’re building a startup / SaaS product
- Vertex AI + Conversational Agents / Dialogflow CX – app logic and chatbots
- Vision / Speech / Translation / Document AI – practical intelligence in your app
- Firebase AI Logic, Genkit & Firebase Studio – full-stack AI apps with minimal backend friction
If you’re running a large business or call centre
- Gemini in Workspace & Gemini Enterprise – organisation-wide AI assistant and agent platform
- Customer Engagement Suite + Contact Center AI Platform – to modernise customer support
If you’re a creator (content, design, music, video)
- Gemini + Nano Banana Pro – for images and layouts
- Imagen & Veo – for high-quality images and videos
- Lyria – for music generation
- Mixboard – for visual brainstorming and mood boards
- Google Photos AI editing – for polishing visuals
